An Interview with Filmmaker Chase Dudley

Recently it has been my pleasure to discuss the work of filmmaker Chase Dudley through the House of Tortured Souls pre-production press release for his latest project, Between the Living and the Dead.

Readers will already be aware of some of the cast members such as Lisa Wilcox, Ashley Mary Nunes, John Dugan, and even Robert Allen Mukes.

Additional to the four principal cast, Dudley has also cast Bishop Stevens and Trevor Murdoch, infamous and impressively skilled wrestlers who had been a part of the WWE world since 1999. Stevens currently can also be seen in films such as Mom and Dad, Payday, and No Good Heroes.

I took some time ahead of the filming schedule for Between the Living and the Dead, to speak with the director Chase Dudley.

House of Tortured Souls: Between your films Marvellous Mandy, Payday,and the upcoming production of Between the Living and the Dead, it’s clear that filmmaking is a passion for you. What inspired your desire to become a filmmaker?Chase Dudley: Yes, my passion for filmmaking has always been very strong, ever since I was a kid. I think I always knew that I wanted to be in the movie business, but it was mostly at a young age that it revolved more around acting. My directing passion came later in life when I started actually making movies, it was to the point for me to find other people making movies. I started making movies for myself and I was always doing more of the directing and finding people. Being in movies, somebody always had to put everything together and it ended up being me doing these things and I just learned to love doing that more than acting. I love telling stories of all kinds, whether it is horror, drama, or action. I like doing a little bit of everything and I started really just making movies six years ago. So I have a lot of time to make up for. From my twenties, social media was so much less and it was really hard to find other people that were interested in the things that I was. Sometimes it really sucks and I feel like I’ve been born in the wrong decade, but it is a great time to be a filmmaker now.

HoTS: I find it inspiring that your business partner is also your amazing wife Samantha Dudley. What is it like working together at Cut 2 The Chase Productions and balancing that with your family commitments?CD: Me working with my business partner and wife Samantha has been, honestly, the greatest treat in the world. People I’d dated in the past always never really fully accepted what I wanted to do or what I wanted to be. It came to the same ultimatums, a lot of times in relationships. It was either them or my dream. And of course, if I gave up my dream it’d be like a slow suicide ‘cos you know how it goes with a lot of relationships in the movie business. It was always so awkward and weird, ‘cos it’s hard for me to not think about movies at all. Thinking movies and being with someone who loves me and wants me to achieve my goals is very special.

HoTS: Between the Living and The Dead will feature two powerful women within horror — Lisa Wilcox and Ashley Mary Nunes — what was it like meeting with either of them ? And why did you choose them for their roles?CD: Watching the A Nightmare on Elm Street films when I was a kid and seeing Lisa Wilcox, she was always my favorite character of the franchise, and I always thought she was quite badass. So growing up and then making movies, I hadn’t heard from her in a while and saw she was raising her kids and getting back into acting and she was really on my list to work with (‘cos she’s such a strong actress). Recently watching her get into all kinds of other great projects I felt I had to work with her. And Ashley Nunes I had met in 2015 at the Ripped Film Festival. I was screening my movie Retribution and she was in a film with her brother Todd, well her brother directed it, called All Through The House. She was such a professional person and a terrific actress and so down to earth. I knew that’s someone I wanted to work with, and we had been trying for a few years. Finally, I sent her the script (for Between the Living and the Dead) and she was so eager to be a part of it.

HoTS: How does it feel also to know you’ll get to work with the legendary John Dugan and genre star Robert Allen Mukes?CD: I never in a million years thought I’d be working with Robert Allen Mukes or John Dugan. Growing up some of my favorite horror films were the House of 1000 Corpses and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, alongside A Nightmare on Elm Street. Those were some of the most memorable and inspiring horror films of all time. They’re all such down to earth people and the roles they’re gonna be playing in the film are so iconic and badass. The horror fans are really gonna love what we’re gonna do with this and it is such an honor to be directing them all.

HoTS: Not ignoring the rest of the cast who will be equally amazing on screen, and I notice some come from wrestling backgrounds, how did you select the right actors for each role?CD: Firstly, Bishop Stevens and Trevor Murdoch are great additions to this project. As a director whenever I’m reading a script or in the process of creating, I already have in mind who I want to work with. It’s one of those things where I visually see people, that I feel fit the roles, and when creating a script I always hope they like it and most of the times they do. So its one of those things I guess, every director is different. Some directors love going to casting calls and posting for and having casting auditions. I like, personally, handpicking them before we start. It’s more exciting.

HoTS: Of course you frequently collaborate with writer Brett Slabchuck, including on Payday and Marvellous Mandy, what is your take on his writing style and what process do you use to create these films based on his scripts?CD:Martin Scorsese once said ‘you have to find filmmakers who like you or who is you’. Most of the years I’ve been trying to get movies off the ground, I’ve always worked with people with a differing opinion. They didn’t get my style (so to say). My wife Samantha and my screenwriter Brett Slabchuck are some of those few special people I collaborate with, that truly get what I’m trying to do. When you have people like that, it makes filmmaking so much easier. Brett Slabchuck and I have been doing business for the last four years and this film will be our fourth creative process. We just seem to get more comfortable and understand each other.

HoTS: Between the Living and the Dead will be filming this year and is slated for a 2019 release. Any ideas if you’ll aim for a festival release? And perhaps cinematic??CD: For Between the Living and the Dead, our goal is I’m really big on Netflix original films, but I am also looking for this film to be released theatrically. The following for Halloween and the way they filmed it seemed really really smart. They shot the movie and that year released it on Halloween of course. We were gonna try take six or seven months in pre-production and try to get and try and get the film out by the next Halloween. This type of film, I think, would do really well theatrically.

HoTS: Is there anything else you’d like film fans to know about Cut 2 The Chase Productions or your films?CD: At Cut 2 The Chase Productions, we want to be versatile and we want to tell amazing stories. I plan on doing all kinds of different genres and all different kinds of films. We are also going to grow into music too, as my wife is a musician and once we get the movie off the ground we intend on going into the music genre too. That’s one thing I’d like everyone one to know about for Cut 2 The Chase Productions.

Posted by Michelle MIDI Sayles

Hailing from Sydney Australia and injecting a dose of Aussie Flavour to her reviews, Midi began her horror love in Birmingham England at a very young age and is always trying to find the next local or indie horror talent to share with the world.